The Sunday Haul (on 1-7-2018)

The trip to Nainital kept me away from Abids for two consecutive Sundays so I was more than eager to return to my familiar Sunday morning haunts. But I found my enthusiasm doused by the over action of the traffic policemen who did not allow anything to be set up on the pavements. As a result there weren’t many books on the pavements at Abids last Sunday. It was only in the few lanes and nooks that the book sellers could safely spread their wares on the pavements. It was at one such seller in a lane that I came across a brand new book that was small in size as well as compact. It was a copy of ‘College’ by Saikat Majumdar that I got for just thirty rupees.

Then in another pile of books selling for twenty rupees I found two crime fiction titles. I had been seeing books by Alan Williams since a long time and though the covers looked like there could be a good novel inside somehow I did not buy them. But last Sunday when I saw ‘The Purity Leagues’ by Alan Williams I picked it up along with ‘False Flags’ by Noel Hynd.

The best of the Sunday haul was at Chikkadpally on the way home from Abids. With each title by an Indian writer that I read my interest in Indian literature especially Indian English literature grows. I have a few titles about Indian literature but nothing that gives me a full picture. I wasn’t really looking for something that would give a full picture of Indian Literature in English since I wasn’t aware there was anything like that. So when I saw ‘An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in English’ edited by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra with a seller at Chikkadpally I was dumbstruck. This title I found quite by chance is a real treasure though I had to shell out two hundred rupees for it. There is so much interesting in this book, about a page on Arun Joshi, that ‘All About Mr Hatterr preceded All About H.Hatterr’ and plenty of illustrations and photographs. It is filled with so much about Indian English writers that it needs a separate post. Along with this title I found the classic ‘Notes of a Native Son’ by James Baldwin that the seller threw in for free with ‘An Ilustrated History…’ !

The Sunday Haul @ Darya Gunj

On Sundays especially, wherever I am, I like to go looking for books and bookstores. It is what I do on Sundays in Hyderabad where I live. The Sunday before this I was in Delhi on way to Nainital to attend a training course. After a quick breakfast at Telangana Bhavan where I was staying I left for Darya Ganj in order to be there by half past nine. I had been to Darya Ganj so long ago in the past that I had forgotten what it looked like. Of course, I was bursting with eager anticipation about what I would find at this market that I had read so much about.

Within the first minute I spotted a great title. A little explosion of delight went off inside me when my eyes read the title of the very first book I saw at Darya Ganj. It was a copy of ‘The War Against Cliché’ by Martin Amis that was on the top of a heap of books selling for fifty rupees only. Holding the book in my hands I couldn’t believe my luck at finding this title that I had read about long, long back when I was just starting off book collecting. This find was a real treasure because when I looked at the contents page I noticed that there was a piece on Elmore Leonard!

The next finds came soon enough with another seller. I found a good copy of ‘Everywhere I Look’ by Helen Garner whose ‘Monkey Fever’ I had picked up on a hunch and had read only to become a fan of Helen Garner’s writing. ‘Everywhere I Look’ is my second Helen Garner title and I am terribly pleased I found this collections of essays by her.

Immediately beside it was a copy of ‘Our Story Begins’ by Tobias Wolff that I hesitated to buy. I had set myself a limit of only three books to buy and if I found better books then what? So I decided to buy it later if I did not find better titles. However, when I saw a hardcover copy of ‘My Father’s Friend and Other Stories’ by Ashokamitran I was tempted to buy it. Ashokamitran’s style never fails to enthral me with its simplicity and lucidity so I did not hesitate before buying it for a hundred rupees.

The next find with another seller was a good copy of ‘Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer that I had read somewhere was connected with books. This got me interested in the book and so I picked up this title too. It did not come cheap at hundred rupees. I bought this book in place of Anne Lamott’s ‘Bird by Bird’ that was right next to it and that I now think I should have also bought though I have two copies of this title at home. Later I went back and picked up the Tobias Wolff title.

After that five book haul at Darya Ganj on Sunday morning I thought I wouldn’t find any more books since I had not only exceeded my limit of two books but I wasn’t going anywhere near books for some time. However, later in the evening I strolled across to Connaught Place to gawk, and I stumbled across a book seller I had tried to locate on an earlier visit to Delhi sometime last year. I spotted ‘Anil Book Corner’ below a large bright board of ‘Tonino’ that I guessed could be another fancy eating joint. I saw a copy of Arun Joshi’s ‘The Apprentice’ that I was tempted to buy but when I saw a copy of ‘Brother, I’m Dying’ by Edwidge Danticat I gave up the idea and bought Danticat’s book instead. Sometime last year I had come across an Edwidge Danticat title at Abids that I foolishly believed would be around the next Sunday and did not buy it right away. When I went to look for the next Sunday it wasn’t, obviously, there and which made me feel like jumping into a well had there been one at Abids.

One day while wandering around the main roads of Nainital sometime last week I came across a bookstore whose name I am not able to recollect now. I went inside and saw a few Hindi titles that I looked at closely. I became suddenly excited when I saw a copy of ‘Kitne Pakistan’ by Kamleshwar which was a title I had jotted down after reading about it somewhere. I also saw the original Hindi version of ‘Raag Darbari’ by Shrilal Shukla. I was torn between these two title- which to buy? Obviously I couldn’t buy both of them though I wanted to. I had read the English version of ‘Raag Darbari’ and since it had been my plan to read it in Hindi I opted for ‘Raag Darbari’ and left behind ‘Kitne Pakistan’ promising myself that I would buy it when I come across it again.

A Midweek Haul

The Friday before last it had started to drizzle while I was on my way home. Since I ride a two wheeler I decided to stop somewhere until the rain stopped. I was a little away from a new store that the MR Books had opened in the Nagarjuna circle in Punjagutta in Hyderabad. I stopped there with the plan to browse until it stopped raining. There I found a book which was a sort of sequel to a title I had already read.

On New Year’s day last year I had picked up a copy of ‘The Spiral Staircase’ by Karen Armstrong at Abids. A couple of weeks later I read it and found Karen Armstrong’s account of her experiences as a nun and as an ex-nun. After finishing reading ‘The Spiral Staircase’ I wished I could also read the first part of her memoir- Through the Narrow Gate. I’m lucky in that sooner or later I always find the book I want to read. I felt glad spotting ‘Through the Narrow Gate’ at the MR Bookstore and bought it for a hundred rupees which isn’t much. I planned to read it on the plane journey to Delhi en route to Nainital for a training course I was told to attend.

The Sunday Haul (on 10-06-2018)

Last Sunday's visit to Abids resulted in a haul of three wonderful titles. These are the titles in the haul:

The Sunday Haul (on 3rd June, 2018)

I already possess a nice copy of ‘The Serpent and the Rope’ by Raja Rao that I found recently but when I saw another good copy at Abids on Sunday I couldn’t resist picking it up. There is something about the covers of these 1960’s titles that makes it impossible to ignore them and leave them behind. I haven’t yet read the book but I hope to read it soon. I got this nice copy for thirty rupees only.

Not very long ago I had seen a couple of hefty volumes with a seller that on close scrutiny turned out to be the entire series of ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ by Kalki-. The volumes were so intimidating in their size that I did not dare to buy them because I may not have the time to read all of them. Later I realized that I had committed an enormous blunder not buying all the five volumes of’ Ponniyin Selvan’ When I saw a lone volume in the series-‘Cyclone’ , the second in the series I bought it. I wish I could find all the remaining titles in the series. I bought ‘Cyclone’ for forty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 27-5-2018)

The first thing I saw at Abids last Sunday made my heart leap with joy. There were more than two dozen issues of Indian Literature in two stacks with a seller. I sat down and looked at each and every issue carefully searching for some name that would catch my eye. I was looking for stories by Arun Joshi or something interesting in those well preserved books. I wished I could buy all of them but I knew it wasn’t possible. Finally I found an issue with an interesting title on the cover- Men and Books by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. I picked up the May-June 2003 Issue 215 and looked at some of the contents. The issue had a tribute to Sisir Kumar Das, described as the ‘greatest scholar of Indian Literature’ which was something I was not aware of. Then there were the usual book reviews, poems (one by a Telugu poet- Mandrapu Hymavathy), stories, essays, and also literary criticism. I have it on my table at the office and will go through it piece by piece whenever I find time.

A couple of months earlier I had come across a Margery Allingham title but I gave it a miss because it did not appear interesting enough. A few weeks after that I read in a book that listed the 100 great crime novels that Margery Allingham was one crime writer not to be missed. Though I do not remember now which Margery Allingham title was listed in that book I did remember the name of the author. So when I saw a copy of ‘Coroner’s Pidgin’ by Margery Allingham with the same seller from whom I had bought the copy of Indian Literature.
I got both these titles for eighty rupees only.

The Sunday Haul (on 20-05-2018)

Last Sunday, once again, I was alone at Abids and ended up finding four good titles on a morning when it wasn’t too hot to be outdoors. Though the sun was out it wasn’t uncomfortable with a cap on the head. The first title I found was a wonderful book. I spotted a nice copy of ‘Mother of 1084’ by Mahashweta Devi on the pavement and picked it up to take a look. I have come across a few copies of this title but hadn’t bought any for some reason. But last Sunday I decided to buy the copy I found. I don’t know when I will find the time to read but I will read it one day. I got it for thirty rupees.

Another interesting find was ‘The Use and Abuse of Literature’ by Marjorie Garber that I saw with another seller. I did not buy it right away and asked the seller to keep it aside. Luckily he did not have the change for the five hundred rupee note I had and I told him I would pick it up which would give me time to decide whether to buy it or not. But in the end I bought it for a hundred rupees.

The third find in the haul on Sunday was a copy of ‘The Song of Anasuya’ by Uma Vasudev. It appeared like one of those titles published in the sixties-seventies. It was a small sized, slim book not more than a hundred and fifty pages. I hadn’t heard of the author and thought it would be an interesting read and bought it for just thirty rupees.

The fourth and last find of the haul on Sunday was a book by an author I would have had an idea about had I been a keen follower of movies. The movie ‘Schindler’s List’ directed by Spielberg is a classic but I haven’t watched it. I know that’s stupid but now I know that the movie is based on a book of the same name written by Thomas Keneally, an Australian writer. Peter Carey, Helen Garner, and recently Ray Eriksen are some of the Australian writers whose books I had read but I wasn’t aware of Thomas Keneally until last Sunday. I was drawn to a book that I instinctively knew was a book worth picking up when I saw the attractive cover. It was a copy of ‘Season in Purgatory by Thomas Keneally that was with a seller who does not know the value of the books he sells. I got this wonderful title for just twenty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 13-05-2018)

It was neither very hot nor very cool but normal weather last Sunday in Hyderabad. It was good enough weather for a couple of hours browsing in the open at Abids. I had a friend along and that put me in a good mood which further improved after I spotted the first title in the haul. It was a mouth-watering title about something that every true blue Hyderabadi always dreams about twenty four hours of the day-Biryani. I found a nice copy of ‘Biryani’ by Pratibha Karan, a hardcover copy that I had to pay two hundred and fifty rupees to buy. I was surprised to read that Pratibha Karan is an IAS officer, now retired. The book had recipes of more than hundred types of biryani from all corners of the country. Though there doesn’t appear any chance for me to try out some of the recipes in the book I bought it just for the pleasure of owning a beautifully produced book.

Another wonderful find was a copy of ‘Cast Me Out If You Will’ by Lalithambika Antherjanam. I had read about Lalithambika Antherjanam a long time but haven’t read anything written by her. ‘Cast Me Out If You Will’ is a translation from the Malayalam and has an introduction by Gita Krishnankutty. It has a foreword by Susie Tharu and is divided into two parts. Part I has fourteen stories and Part II is the Memoir part with six essays.
These are the fourteen stories in ‘Cast Me Out If You Will’: The Power of Fate; In the Moonlight; The Goddess of Revenge; Admission of Guilt; Within the Folds of Seclusion; Wooden Cradles; The Devi and Her Devotee; Life and Death; A Leaf in the Whirlwind; ‘Come Back’; Daughter of Humanity; The Boon; Fulfillment; Dhirendu Majumdar’s Mother.

The last find was another interesting title. I found an ancient copy of ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ by TE Lawrence that had a tape around its spine. I bought it when I read at the back that ‘No collection of modern classics would be complete without Seven Pillars of Wisdom.’ In one of the inside pages someone had scribbled his name and date which was September 7, 1963 which is about six months before I was born. The copy was around for fifty five years I realized after I bought it for eighty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 06-04-2018)

A few sharp showers in the evening sometime during the middle of last week helped a lot in bringing down the temperature for a couple of days. As a result of this last Sunday was not as hot it was the previous Sunday when the temperature had almost touched 42 degrees C. Though it wasn’t exactly pleasant on Sunday morning it wasn’t uncomfortably hot. This plus the fact that I was friendless helped me focus on the titles of books heaped on the pavements at Abids last Sunday. All this resulted in a wonderful four book haul that filled me with the joy that only people who love books feel on finding good books.

It was only after I had the chai all alone at our regular Irani café that I found the first good title of the day. I spotted a nice copy of ‘Murder in the Kitchen’ by Alice B Toklas and picked it up for a closer look because the name Alice B Toklas rang a bell in my mind. ‘Murder in the Kitchen’ is described as a memoir-turned-cookbook at the back and since it was a combination (memoir + cookbook) I couldn’t resist buying it. Inside i read that Toklas had been a sort of companion to Gertrude Stein, and both hosted a salon that attracted Hemingway, Paul Bowles, Scott F Fitzgerald, Picasso, Matisse etc. Besides, the seller asked for only thirty rupees for this slim volume.

A very long time back I had picked up a book by Sandor Marai, the Hungarian novelist I had read about in J.M. Coetzee’s book of essays. It was in ‘Inner Workings- Essays 2000-2005’ that I had first read about Sandor Marai and subsequently found ‘Conversations in Bolzano’ after missing buying it the first time I saw it. At the bunch of sellers near the Head Post Office in Abids I spotted a copy of ‘Embers’ by Sandor Marai, the same book Coetzee had written about in detail. The translator was Carol Brown Janeway. I was careful not to show my excitement at finding it because the sellers could make it out and quote a high price. As expected he quoted the astronomical price of a hundred and eighty rupees. I asked for eighty rupees and walked away as if I was not very interested in the book. The gambit paid off since the seller called me and gave it at my price.

Not the last find of the day but the last find at Abids was a title I saw with the seller near Hollywood shoes. It was a beautiful copy of ‘The Long March’ by William Styron that I spotted moments before I had decided to call it a day at Abids and was about to get on my bike. It was only eighty eight pages long but I paid eighty rupees for it because I WANTED it. I have read Styron’s memoir of depression, ‘Darkness Visible’ and also a book of essays ‘This Quiet Dust and Other Writings’ but haven’t yet read his most famous work, ‘Sophie’s Choice’ that I plan to read one of these days. With three wonderful titles in the bag I started off for home thinking I had a great haul until I reached Chikkadpally. There I came across the find of the day.

At a seller at Chikkadpally I spotted a few old books and decided to take a closer look since it was here that I found some old Orient Paperbacks titles with glorious covers. I spotted a nice copy of ‘The Colossus of Maroussi’ by Henry Miller that appeared to have been published long back. I checked inside and found that it was originally published in 1941 and the copy I had was a 1963 reprint. I felt unusually happy finding this title and was quite surprised when the seller asked for only twenty five rupees for this wonderful book. Later at home I read inside and read that Henry Miller’s original intention was to write just one big book, ‘The Story of My Misfortunes.’ Whatever, there’s one book by him I had picked up long back- The Books in My Life- that I thought was a wonderful book. But when I opened it I realized three fourths of the book was missing! I hadn’t checked the book properly before buying it, a basic mistake I make sometimes in my excitement at finding a good title.

The Sunday Haul (on 29-04-2018)

I knew it was going to be a hot day but I did not realize the temperature would be 42 degrees when I was at Abids. It was sizzling when I stepped out to look for the books on the pavements at Abids last Sunday with Uma. It was the hottest day of the season so far in Hyderabad last Sunday with the mercury touching 42˚ C making it very, very hot. Of course, we were prepared with caps and a bottle of water but being in the open for more than a few minutes wasn’t so easy. But somehow we managed to browse for more than an hour and ended up with a nice haul of four books.

I remember picking up a copy of ’Twenty One Stories’ by Graham Greene sometime back and also reading a story from it that I found in another copy of the same book that I found at Abids last Sunday. These are the stories in ‘Twenty One Stories’ by Graham Greene: The Destructors; Special Duties; The Blue Film; The Hint of an Explanation: When Greek Meets Greek; Men at Work; Alas, Poor Maling; The Case for the Defence; A Little Place off the Edgware Road; Across the Bridge; A Drive in the Country; The Innocent; The Basement Room; A Chance of Mr Lever; Brother; Jubilee; A Day Saved; I Spy; Proof Positive; The Second Death; The End of the Party.

Then with the same seller I saw a nice copy of ‘Land of Five Rivers’ by Khushwant Singh that had an attractive and colourful cover. Quite interestingly it has twenty one stories by writers from Punjab written in Punjabi (translated into English by others) and selected by Khushwant Singh. These are the stories in it:

‘A Punjab Pastorale’ by Khushwant Singh
‘Stench of Kerosene’ by Amrita Pritam
‘Lajwanti’ by Rajinder Singh Bedi
‘A Hundred Mile Race’ by Balwant Gargi
‘The Night of the Full Moon’ by Kartar Singh Duggal
'Reflections on the Golden Bed' by Mulk Raj Anand
'Hunger' by Krishen Singh Dhodi
'Gods on Trial' by Gulzar Singh Sandhu
'How Sohne Shan Once Lost His Temper' by G.D. Khosla
'The Death of Shaikh Burhanuddin' by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas
'The Mahabharata Retold' by Satindra Singh
'Tai Eesree' by Krishen Chandra
'The Blind Alley' by Gurmukh Singh Jeet
'Saadat' by Yashpal
'Soorma Singh' by Balwant Singh
'The Nuptial Bed' by Upendra Nath Ask
'Happy New Year' by Ajeet Cour
'One Passenger, Ho !' by Santokh Singh Dhir
'Breaking Point' by Usha Mahajan
'Strange New World' by Kulwant Singh Virk
'Exchange of Lunatics' by Saadat Hasan Manto

I bought these two books for hundred rupees which wasn’t much.

Then I found another cookbook by Pritam Uberoi who seems to have written quite a number of cookbooks because only recently I had found a cookbook by her at Abids. It was the ‘Indian Cookery’ by Pritam Uberoi that I found. I got this book with an attractive cover for just thirty rupees.

Then again I found yet another book on writing. Only the other Sunday I had found a copy of ‘Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Fiction’ by Janet Burroway at Abids and now I found ‘The Simon & Schuster Guide to Writing; Second Edition’ by Jeanette Harris and Donald C. Cunningham that I picked up without a second thought. It is difficult for me to resist buying books on writing though I do not know if reading the dozens of books on writing I found in the past has helped me in anyway. Though I have not been writing anything significant I have been reading books on writing quite religiously since a long, long time.